Red Cross, fire department partner on fire safety

Stevens Point Fire Department Lt. J.B. Moody knocks on the door of a home Saturday as the department and Red Cross fanned out across the city to install smoke alarms in homes that needed them.
(Photo: SARI LESK/Central Wisconsin Sunday)

STEVENS POINT – The Stevens Point Fire Department teamed up Saturday with the American Red Cross to improve fire safety in the city by going door-to-door to help residents install smoke detectors.

Wendy Savage, community chapter executive for the North Central Chapter of the Red Cross, said Stevens Point was among several municipalities across the country to take part in the Saturday campaign, which involved installing smoke detectors in homes that lacked them and providing education about fire safety for homeowners.

The volunteer effort was part of a national campaign by the Red Cross to reduce deaths and injuries from home fires by as much as 25 percent in the next five years.

Savage said Stevens Point was chosen based on research from the National Fire Incident Reporting System that showed its primary zip code, 54481, to be one of the top 10 communities in the Red Cross region that suffered severe fires involving death or injury between 2008 and 2012.

A similar event also took place in Milwaukee.

"The reason that we started in Stevens Point is because the fire department was very receptive," Savage said. "We checked with all those 10 communities, and (Stevens Point was) very, very receptive."

The volunteers worked in the area between Ellis Street, Business Highway 51, Park Street and Water Street, as well as near Bliss Avenue. Fire department staff members canvassed the neighborhoods to identify homeowners who wanted to have their smoke detectors checked or replaced. Teams of three volunteers then visited the homes to install alarms, talk about fire safety and help families develop evacuation plans.

Volunteers came from area Red Cross chapters, as well as from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Savage said the goal of Saturday's event was to install at least 50 smoke detectors in Stevens Point and half a million nationwide. With about an hour left of work Saturday, Savage said the volunteers had installed at least 28 and were on track to meet the area's goal.

"I think we've made a lot of good progress," Savage said.

She said there is plenty more work to be done to improve home fire safety in the U.S., with Saturday's volunteer project being just the start of the five-year campaign.

Sari Lesk can be reached at 715-345-2257. Follow her on Twitter as @Sari_Lesk.

Developing an evacuation plan

The American Red Cross recommends that every household develop a fire escape plan and practice it several times a year, at different times of the day.

The plan should include two ways of exiting every room and should consider escape ladders for sleeping areas or homes on the second floor or above.

Residents of a home should choose a location outside for everyone to meet and make sure everyone knows where it is.

Residents should also install smoke alarms on every level of the home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. They should test the alarms every month and replace the batteries at least once per year.